The thread on the 1957 Standard got me thinking. I know I am not the only one concerned with this, but in regards to short dogs, how do we fix the length of leg? What can we do as breeders to add a little bit of length in our breeding?

I think if you look carefully, you will see that it is no so much that legs are shorter. The problem lies in the depth of chest. The chest should not extend below the elbows.

Breed to dogs who have the traits you desire to improve and keep get that represent that improvement. No different than improving on any other trait in your breeding program. It is not like this lack of leg/depth of body (whatever you prefer to view it as) happened overnight...it came about from knowingly and selectivly breeding these traits. Every time we plan a litter we are shaping the future of our breeding programs and the breed.

Your choice in dogs to improve this trait may not be the big specialty winners but in theory this should not be your decision maker anyway. Of course theory is much often easier than application and there is far more to consider when selecting a suitable pairing.

Choose sires with more leg.

Not only do you look at the sire but the sire's dam and grand dam. I've been trying to improve on more height/leg since I started with my current lines. I chose stud dogs who have plenty of leg, balanced but we'd still get some shorter
off spring as they grew up. With my last breeding using the same dam, we got better height. Still had one short girl in the bunch but the girl I kept is growing up with the height I was hoping for. The stud dog, we own is well within standard on height, so is his dam. We will always have those shorties crop up from time to time just because it is in the pedigree. There is no escaping it but I am getting better at evaluating my 8 week old pups for predicting better height. It's not just about height but over all balance.

I think improving height and improving on length of leg are two separate issues. A short dog can still have balance in length of leg.

I do agree that one has to look at the whole pedigree. I know a stud dog that is very balanced, but his bitch line for several generations back is full of long/low bitches. His half siblings (males and females) out of this line are typically short on leg. That is not a pedigree I would use to fix length of leg, even though he is a nice balanced boy himself.

For some reason i have a couple of bitches that are short in the leg. It does not mean they are not balanced becasue they are. Beautiful in every way. I have since learned where the shorter leg in their pedigree comes from so i know that when they are bred it will be to carefully selected dogs with good length of leg, who can produce good leg, and have good leg behind them too, and still be balanced becasue i dont want to lose that.

Depending on how short on leg they are and how out of balance they are, it could mean they also lack breed type. The overall silhouette is just as important as head, coat and tail (head, coat and tail on a Clumber frame only looks like a mix). Balance is very important to function. Unfortunately, the overly deep bodies/short legs seem to be quite the fad, which does not help in fixing the issue.

Short on Leg added to excessive substance/type is not a good combination. While I like type in my own Labradors, I have found that the shorter labradors who are heavily boned run out of steam/stamina quicker than they should.